Paleo chickens

[bridgetveuleman]

I follow a paleo diet. For those of you that are not familiar it is no dairy, soy, grains, or corn products. I would like my chickens to follow the same diet. Any ideas for feed?

 

[animallover505]

I don't think it would be a healthy way of life for chickens, but I could be wrong.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas and

! Pleased you joined us! Sorry, I don't have any advice on that type of chicken diet either. But I wish you well in your search.

 

[OnceInALifeTime]

I follow a paleo diet. For those of you that are not familiar it is no dairy, soy, grains, or corn products. I would like my chickens to follow the same diet. Any ideas for feed?

Chicken's really need to have grains and corn in there diet though i'm unsure about soy and dairy.

 

[bridgetveuleman]

Why do you feel it would be unhealthy? What nutritional value do corn and grains have that chickens need? A healthy human diet is protein, vegetables, and some fruit. Why would that not be healthy for chickens? Thanks for the input!

 

[animallover505]

Chickens at one time basically lived of corn and grain, along with grass and insects. All complete feeds contain grains, and corn is a source of carbs and protein, they need it on cold days to stay warm.

 

[OnceInALifeTime]

http://www.chickenhop.com/info/info.html

This link has very good info that should help you out!

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[sourland]

Paleo chickens scare me - what if they pulled a revolt? Attack of the velociraptors.

Modified Paleo diet for me - grain diet for my birds.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Chickens at one time basically lived of corn and grain, along with grass and insects. All complete feeds contain grains, and corn is a source of carbs and protein, they need it on cold days to stay warm.

Chickens live off corn and grain because it is a cheap thing to feed them not because it is ideal nutrition, and the idea of corn "warming" birds seems more like a often repeated wives tail than anything else. Do you have any actually scientific information about this? If so I would love to read it but I have never been able to find any. They certainly do not NEED corn.

I have definitely seen farmers at farmers markets selling "grain-free" eggs. They do this by feeding a pastured or fodder-based diet so they are being feed grains as greens/grasses rather than as grains if that makes sense. The nutrition difference is huge and with fodder you can turn 1 lb of grains into 6 + lbs of greens/grasses.

I think that if you did enough research into nutritional needs/balance and worked it all out so they are getting the right protein, calcium and amno acids I think it could be an amazing diet. Likely much better than a standard commercial diet -- I am not sure what your costs would be. That could be an issue.

I feed a corn-free, soy-free organic feed with a fish meal base and then grow my own organic wheat/barley/BOSS fodder and noticed a big different in feather quality and egg yolk quality versus commercial soy based feed. You can also farm your own meal worms for very easy, very cheap high quality protein.

I would love to know what you end up going with!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/713334/growing-fodder-for-chickens